Poultry prices down in Multan

Poultry prices in the city have shown a decline in the last couple of days and may fall further in the coming days due to healthy production of chicken and ideal weather for breeding, poultry expert Syed Tahir Zaidi said here on Wednesday.
Currently, poultry meat is being sold for Rs 120-125 per kg. In the month of Ramazan, poultry meat remained expensive and was being sold for Rs 130-140 per kg. While eggs are selling at Rs 50 per dozen against Rs 48 price fixed by the local price control committee.
The industry experts said that the chicken production dropped in the month of Ramazan that triggered a hike in its price. However, healthy production has resulted in a drop of poultry prices. They said that in the coming days, the price of chicken meat would drop further. "Now the chicken in the farms is more than its demand and therefore, its price may decline," said former chairman of Pakistan Poultry Association.
He said that the current price of chicken may effect the consumers adversely, as this price is not suitable for farmers, and a number of people might opt of the business.
"Though currently, people are feeling relief due to the price decline but poultry prices would hit Rs 130 per kg once again in the coming weeks," he said adding, that the cost of production of chicken has risen in a couple of years.
He said that a farmer invests at least Rs 110 per kg on breeding chickens and it is not possible for him to sell meat on lower prices. Resolutely, chicken production dropped and people have to buy expensive chicken. An average chick is available for Rs 20-25. It takes around six weeks to breed a chicken. In the whole process, a chicken eats around 3.75 kg of feed.
"Bird feed is available for Rs 18.75 per kg and a chicken consumes around Rs 69 in six weeks. Adding the cost of electricity, labour, vaccination to this cost, the farmer gets only Rs 5 to 10 on every kg," said a farmer, Hafeez Chaudhry. Feed prices have shown an increase of 40 to 50 percent, he added. It is not possible for the farmers to sell chicken at less than Rs 100 per kg. He said that the production in summer decreases. But winter is ideal for getting production.
"In summer, the farmers get 100 kg of meat from 100 birds while in winter the production rises to 150 to 175 Kg," he said adding that the government always take notice of high poultry prices and is never bothered about vegetable prices.